For the third year in a row, I spent the last weekend of September at the Severn Valley Railway's Autumn Steam Gala, and this year was quite possibly the best so far. The line fielded 5 guests and 6 residents to create a truly one-off line-up. Locomotives in action were:
Visitors:
|Caledonian Railway '812' 0-6-0 828 (Courtesy of the Strathspey Railway, making its first in-steam visit in preservation away from its home base in Scotland)
|LNER/A1 Trust New Build A1 4-6-2 60163 'Tornado' (Courtesy of the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust)
|GWR 60xx 'King' 4-6-0 6024 'King Edward I' (Courtesy of the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust)
|BR 9F 2-10-0 92212 (Courtesy of Jeremy Hoskings and the Mid Hants Railway)
|GWR 5101 'Large Prairie Tank' 2-6-2T 4160 (Courtesy of the West Somerset Railway)
Residents:
|GWR 28xx 'Heavy Freight' 2-8-0 2857 (recently returned to traffic following overhaul)
|GWR 78xx 'Manor' 4-6-0 7812 'Erlestoke Manor'
|GWR 45xx 'Small Prairie Tank' 2-6-2T 4566 (Spare locomotive, replaced 43106 from Saturday lunchtime)(Not featured in any parts)
|LMS 4MT 2-6-0 'Flying Pig' 43106 (Failed Saturday Lunchtime)(Not featured in any parts)
|LMS 2MT 2-6-0 'Mickey Mouse' 46443 (Night-time only)(Not featured in any parts)
|LMS 5MT 2-6-0 'Stanier Mogul' 42968 (Night-time only)(Not featured in any parts)
Before it even began the line encountered problems. 2 months before the gala took place, GWR 'Blue King' 6023 'King Edward II' was pulled out of the event because of problems discovered following running in at the Mid Norfolk Railway. 6024 was found as a replacement, although for me the Blue King would have been a much preferable option. Less than a fortnight before the event the other GWR 4-cylinder 4-6-0 booked for the event, 'Castle' 5029 'Nunney Castle' was also pulled out for operational reasons, and so the West Somerset Railway's 'Large Prairie' 4160 was brought in as a replacement. This, for me, was a much better choice, as the Castle had only been booked to work 4 coach locals between Kidderminster and Arley (except at Night), and a 2-6-2 Tank was, in my view, a much better option. On the day problems with both King Edward I and Tornado meant that by 10:00 trains were running half an hour behind schedule, and credit must go to everyone involved who managed to pull the deficit back to just 2 minutes by the time I left at 18:00, especially when bearing in mind the intensive timetable the line was operating to.
For me, 828 was by far the star of the show. The fact that this was the first and might well be one of very few chances for enthusiasts to see it anywhere other than Strathspey made it a truly special guest, but besides that, my WORD it sounded good when worked hard! Even with only 6 coaches on the crew seemed to be using low cut off and 2nd regulator, meaning that sitting in the front carriage behind her from Bridgnorth to Bewdley meant full enjoyment could be taken out of the scenic ride. Sadly I don't think you can hear her working quite as hard as she did in either part.
The plan I did was:
|0840 Kidderminster -- Highley (6024)
|0956 Highley -- Bewdley (828)
|1115 Bewdley -- Highley (60163)
|1259 Highley -- Bridgnorth (828)
|1402 Bridgnorth -- Bewdley (828)
|1701 Bewdley -- Kidderminster (2857)
I would like to thank the Severn Valley Railway for once again putting on a spectacular and thoroughly enjoyable event, the various owning groups of 828, 60163, 6024, 92212 and 4160 for allowing their locomotives to appear, especially 828, for its first visit away from the Strathspey, and 4160, for its appearance arranged at short notice, and you for taking your time to watch this video.
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Severn Valley Railway Autumn Steam Gala pt 1 Fri 23 Sept 2011by ajr6648637 views
Super footage, 828 looks like an excellent loco. Good quality of video.
BritishTrainVideos 4 months ago
Excellent footage good to see me in the shot :)
cookhammanor 5 months ago